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Victoria Station attackers: profiles of six convicted at Old Bailey

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Sofyen Belamouadden's killers were teenagers studying at sixth form college and living with parents in south London

Obi Nwokeh, 18, born 8 September 1992, from south London

Convicted of murder

He was captured on CCTV footage standing over the victim in the ticket hall. Nwokeh is seen with an object in his hand in the footage. The teenager, who was 17 at the time, lives with his parents in south London and was studying for AS levels at sixth form college.

Teenager C, a 17-year-old, born 23 June 1993, from south London

Convicted of murder

He was studying at the sixth form college and lived with his family in south London. The teenager was in the group who chased Sofyen down the steps to the ticket hall and attacked him.

The prosecution said teenager C had stabbed Sofyen as he lay on the floor. He was identified by witnesses as being one of those who punched the schoolboy in the attack.

Samuel Roberts, 18, born 18 October 1992, from south London

Convicted of manslaughter

Roberts has no previous convictions and was not known to police when he was arrested. He was studying for four A-levels at sixth form college and living with his parents. Roberts, who was 17 at the time, was captured on CCTV footage standing over the victim in the ticket hall. The prosecution identified Roberts as the attacker who was seen with his arms and leg raised level with Sofyen's head, delivering a kick. Roberts accepted that he had kicked Sofyen two or three times. But he said he was not armed and had not seen anyone else using a weapon.

He told the jury that he had seen a group of youths shouting "What, what?" and calling on others to fight, so he joined in the pursuit.

At the top of the stairs leading to the ticket hall, he said he saw Sofyen being pushed and punched by three youths. He told the jury he followed the youths downstairs and kicked Sofyen as he lay on the floor.

Asked why, he said: "I don't know why. I kicked him in the head. I wasn't thinking. Having looked back at this I can only say I am ashamed. I didn't mean to do it. It wasn't something I was thinking about.

"Everyone else was doing it. It was stupid. I don't know what else to say."

Roberts added: "After the punch, people began to run."

The jury was told that drops of Sofyen's blood were found on Roberts' trainers.

Teenager A, a 17-year-old, born 23 August 1993, from south London

Convicted of manslaughter

The teenager, who had no previous convictions and was not known to police, was 16 at the time of the attack and studying for AS levels at college. A bright pupil, he was said to have several A grades in his GCSEs.

Following his arrest, police searched his laptop and found entries on Facebook the night before the killing. In these, the teenager asked in four conversations for friends to find him a knife. In the Facebook entries he told friends there was a "beef" with other youths in west London and someone could get "slumped" (stabbed).

The teenager repeatedly asked for a "flick-up ting" and asked an older friend to buy "some nanks from Argos", sending the friend a link to the Argos website for a set of kitchen knives costing £3.99. He went to Argos with an older friend to buy the knives during his lunch break on the day of the attack.

Giving evidence the teenager admitted he had asked for a knife but he said he only wanted it to threaten a rival gang of 40 youths who he had heard were going to ambush his group. "I was shocked because compared to how many of my friends there were and compared to the number of people we were told were coming, we were outnumbered quite a lot," he said.

The boy said he was "hoping the dispute could be settled verbally".

He added: "I thought if it couldn't happen and if the confrontation escalated to the point where these 40 boys were going to attack the eight of us, then I thought that if I had a knife I could brandish it as a form of threat. It would warn them off."

When the attack took place he had splintered away from the main group to chase after another rival and did not go down to the ticket hall.

He said he found out that someone had been killed at Victoria station only when he switched on Sky News later that evening after his brother had called him. The boy said he did not go to college the next day. "It was too risky. In the sense that one of the … boys had died the previous day and I couldn't risk going to college just in case they wanted to come back for revenge."

Adonis Akra, 18, from south London, born 19, April 1993, previously known as Teenager B

Convicted of manslaughter

CCTV footage shows Akra, who was 17 at the time, was at the head of the group as they chased Sofyen and bundled him down a flight of steps into the ticket hall. When arrested he gave a prepared statement denying he was present. He said he "didn't expect it or know what it was about" and did not have a knife or intend that anyone would get seriously hurt.

Giving evidence he admitted hitting Sofyen with a metal rod, but claimed he had no idea he had been stabbed.

Asked who had inflicted the knife wounds, he replied: "I didn't stab him. I don't know who stabbed him."

He said he had been shocked to learn that Sofyen had been fatally stabbed, but when challenged by prosecuting counsel, he said he did not confront his friends or ask who was responsible. The teenager admitted leading the chase of Sofyen down into the ticket hall but claimed it was his intention only to "scare him off".

He said the killing of Sofyen "wasn't my fault".

Admitting he had hit the boy with a steel rod, he claimed he had only intended to cause a "little bit of bruising".

Asked by Mark Heywood, QC, for the crown, whether he saw another member of his group kicking Sofyen in the head, he replied: "I was unaware of what he was doing."

"Each of them was stabbing him," Heywood said.

The teenager replied: "I don't know, sir."

Enoch Amoah, 18, born 4 November 1992, from south London

Convicted of violent disorder

Amoah, who was 17 at the time, was captured on CCTV footage standing over the victim in the ticket hall. Studying for his AS levels at sixth form college, he lives with his parents in south London. Amoah told the jury he had not been present in the ticket hall of Victoria station when Sofyen was attacked.

In evidence Amoah said he had gone to the station with friends, but had no idea anyone was armed.

He was challenged by Heywood, who said Amoah had been hiding a weapon either inside his jacket sleeve or in a bag he was carrying. But Amoah said: "I didn't have a knife."

In a defence statement, parts of which were read to the court, he said he saw members of his group running at boys he did not know in Terminus Place and he told the jury he had joined in to "scare them off".

Amoah admitted he was second behind a 17-year-old codefendant as they chased the rival group, which included Sofyen.

But he said he "pulled up" at the top of the stairs leading to the underground station where Sofyen ended up on the floor inside the ticket hall after tripping on the steps.


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